


A Pretentious Sort of Freedom

by midnightrose94



Category: Free!, Pretentious Game (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Cheating, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Drunk Driving, F/M, Genderbending, I hate hurting Haru, M/M, Moving On, My First AO3 Post, Rich!Sousuke, angelic!Makoto, but I kinda have too..., driven!Rin, host!Kisumi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-07-11 12:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7052269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightrose94/pseuds/midnightrose94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically Pretentious Game meets Free!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Haru is enthralled by Rin

Nanase Haruka and Matsuoka Rin were pretty close friends – best friends by Haruka’s standard, despite the difference in their genders. Sure, there was the odd argument because of each own stubbornness (Haru) and pride (Rin). Haru would normally give Rin space and avoid competing with her but Rin nearly always either wore him down or offered him a deal he cannot refuse (normally something that involved water) and the invitation always satisfied each other’s need to compete. However, even though gender difference was the most frequent reason Haru used to deter Rin in her attempts to get him to swim competitively with her, it was not the main reason he was reluctant to race her; he is actually reluctant because she can be a very sore loser at times. The first time Haru learned about that particular trait of hers was after he thoroughly beat her at freestyle – the aftermath of that swim match was not pretty since Haru won by a whole 50 meters. This led to Rin challenging Haru to a round of games at the arcade where both of them found their skills to be evenly matched. Hence, they started using this method to sort of even the playing field whenever they wanted (translation: whenever Rin thought Haru was not swimming seriously in one of their competitions which happened more and more frequently after Haru finished a few races 25 m behind Rin on back-to-back races held on different days instead of both of them finishing really close to each other.)

 

Haru was very satisfied with how their relationship was but one day, Rin came up with the brilliant plan of challenging Haru to a 25 m butterfly race and relentlessly disturbed him with it by first refusing all freestyle races to refusing to spend time with him outside of the pool. She finally got him to agree when she started refusing to even be at the pool with him unless he raced her using butterfly just once. However, she overlooked that freestyle also allows swimmers to at least swim 15 m underwater1 which Haru used to his advantage before only pulling five times to reach the other side. After that particularly bad swim race; Rin stated one of the harshest statements Haru had ever heard. _I’m never competing with you ever again._ Haru could not believe his ears. Competing with each other was the one thing that the both of them had in common, after all (besides their girly names, but that does not count since Rin _is_ a girl).

 

Unwilling to lose the person closest to him, Haru started bending over back to attend to all Rin’s invitations (read: demands) which he refused to do in the past. Sure, they were simple stuff like more jogs at parks instead of swimming in pools, more group outings to new as well as popular food outlets and frequent trips to clubs and pubs (a habit Rin picked up during her years as part of the Australia Swim Team) that helped keep their friendship going but Rin must have completely forgotten how much of an introvert and anti-socialist Haru was to not realise that Haru was not suffering through all these activities **just** to spend time with Rin since they no longer swam as much together. On the other hand, Haru equated these activities to climbing mountains (though meetings with old friends were more like hills since they were more bearable), dodging fire (both verbal ones [from Rin's friends who though he was cold and weird] and literal ones [ **those** tended to occur near alcohol]) and dragging himself through social hell but he took leap after leap of faith that Rin would realize how much _effort_ and _personal rules_ Haru broke to remain the person constantly by her side; the first person Rin calls when she’s drunk, the shoulder that Rin cries on whenever the redhead gets sentimental (which happens more often than the redheaded tomboy would like to admit) and the first person Rin shares any personal news with. For all this Haru continued to drag himself through each outing especially those times he still went for all these social meets with Rin _even though _ he knew he would be pushed to side as soon as Rin’s current crush or boyfriend joined them.

 

There were other times when Haru felt like he was following her blindly, such as when Rin suddenly starts calling him to pick her up from the most random of places – the park in the next city, some obscure café in the middle of nowhere and once, a railway station that had no connecting line to any of their friend’s areas, not to mention their own. But Haru still did his best when it involved Rin because he loves this woman; probably from the moment they first met. Rin was the only one who had the courage to befriend the ‘expressionless and emotionless robot’ as Haru was known as during their college years after all. In fact, Rin was the first person who made the effort to get to know who Haru really was as a person; not just a top student and excellent swimmer but also how good Haru’s cooking is (even with the staple mackerel), Haru’s hobby of baking and drawing (where drawings of Rin are carefully hidden by Haru so Rin will never find them), and just how Haru is Haru, chains and all. Haru also likes to think that Rin really understands all his philosophies about water because he has received less blank stares from her compared to others whenever he goes on a spiel about water and its healing properties or its likeness to situations in life. All these treasured memories and the fact that Rin's friendship saved Haru when his world was crumbling more times than he can count are reasons why Haru will give it his all and even dare to fly to be with her or as long as doing anything and everything he could made Rin happy.

 

Alas, it all turned out to be only a pretentious game when one day, after not seeing Rin for about half a year, Haru saw a scene unfold right in front him, one that would haunt him for a long time.

 

Rin, pushing a stroller in front of her.

 

Rin, laughing and giving her sharp, mega-volt grin to the man beside her who was also pushing a matching stroller.

 

Rin, kissing the man on the lips without a care of who was watching.

 

And Haru turned away with regret and loss heavy in his heart as he felt his and Rin’s Tiny Word disappear into nothingness just because he passed up too many chances to say anything.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Haru gets over Rin, meets a stranger that exceeds all expectations and learns more about himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Haru tried to move on and forget her. He opened new doors to new hobbies and skills such as wall climbing and air gliding. _No,_ he was _not_ hoping to cut his live short through extreme sports, he was just trying new things and going places that did not remind him of her, he said whenever close friends and juniors of his questioned him about his sudden interest in those activities. He also reassured these usually upbeat and carefree duo with words such as _‘I’m not a fool’, ‘I know self-harm is dangerous’ ‘No, I’m not considering suicide’_ and _‘I know I can meet others, I’m just not ready yet’_.

 

Haru is not an idiot, he knows that he will heal with time and move on to meeting new people but somehow he still cannot take his mind off her. Especially at night when Haru tries hard to delete the photos of her (alone, together or with friends) in his phone but due to his own weakness, Haru normally only goes to sleep after he drags the gallery app off the side of his screen to save its battery for tomorrow. He also tries to ignore all the gifts he received from her that are collecting dust in a previously empty cupboard. There are also times where Haru feels like hitting his head against the wall until he passes out, gets amnesia or goes into a coma just so he would stop thinking about her.

 

He had a sudden epiphany one day that he felt this way because somewhere deep in his heart, he felt confident that Rin would one day choose him over her current lover. As soon as he had this epiphany, Haru realized that it was time to crush his ego since it had been a year and a half when he first found out about her twin children and really, Rin’s happiness was all he truly wanted for his closest friend. So, that night, Haru started deleting all pictures of Rin on his phone and removing other traces of her from his room. After that impromptu spring cleaning, Haru took a shower to wash off all the grime and sweat on his body and later that night, he had the best sleep he’d ever had in months.

 

In the complete silence of the following morning, Haru felt like listening to some music to match his mood. So, that morning, for the first time, Haru brought his mp3 player in the bathroom with him and played tracks by his favourite rock band as he took his daily ~~soak~~ bath (he still did not feel comfortable enough to listen to Rin’s favourite genre; Pop, Country, and anything romantic and ‘Rage On’ always got his blood pumping anyway). With all the progress he made in 24 hours, Haru finally let himself believe that he would really recover but he really did not expect what happened next.

 

“I’m so sorry, sir. I wasn’t looking where I was going. I didn’t injure you, did I?” asked a stranger who had accidentally bumped Haru’s shoulder and caused him to stumble a bit. Haru found himself looking at the abdomen of one of the tallest men he had ever met (Mikoshiba Seijuro, his uni’s swim captain, being the other) but what kept him frozen in place and too stunned to speak as he was raising his gaze over that fit chest, strong shoulders and sturdy neck was the pure radiance of that man’s smile, his eyes were obviously higher up and Haru should stop staring at a stranger's lips but _**man, that’s a blinding smile**_.

 

Not wanting to seem rude, Haru replied, “It's ok, I’m fine. I wasn’t paying attention either,” straightening up to look the stranger in the eye and proceeded to be rendered speechless _again_ by the lovely forest green eyes and the kindness simmering in them. “Ah, thank goodness. I would like to make sure that you’re okay myself but I’ve really gotta go. Bye!” And with that hasty parting, the _stunningly handsome_ man turned to leave, breaking his eye-to-eye contact with Haru, thus releasing him from the strange spell the stranger had unknowingly casted on him.

 

“Lunch.” Haru, finally getting his tongue back from the cat, stated.

 

“I’m sorry?” The man asked with a slight head tilt.

 

“You can check me for injures at lunch. Or would you prefer just grabbing a cup of coffee?” Haru inwardly cringed at his extremely lame attempt at asking the guy out and was about to retract the offer but the man with the very nice smile and even nicer eyes gave his reply before he could even open his mouth.

 

“Um, sure, I guess? Shall we meet at the IwaSame Café at 3?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Ok. See you then.”

 

And just like that, the extremely attractive stranger hurriedly went on his way.

 

At their next meeting, which consisted of a latte for Haru and a mocha with extra whipped cream accompanied with a slice of chocolate cake for the man he just met that morning, Haru found out that Smiles Bright Like The Sun’s name is Tachibana Makoto, he works as a manager in one of the offices nearby and he has two younger siblings who brought out that mothering side of his (Haru honestly thinks that it would be a part of Makoto’s personality siblings). It turns out that Makoto and Haru had quite a lot in common; they are both the same age, used to swim competitively in high school, bad at English and both of them recently had their hearts broken.

 

The next few meetings left both Haru and Makoto feeling as though they were walking on air and bouncing with joy as each new discovery about each other’s traits, likes and dislikes brought them closer together. Haru could even see himself being together with this man for the rest of his life which he thought was odd as he never pondered about the possibility of spending his future with _anyone_ let alone someone of the same gender, especially in every aspect that marriage brings before now but spending time with and being next to Makoto just seemed so right that Haru decided to just go with the flow.

 

But life really has a sick sense of humour. Just as everything was looking up for Haru, he was knocked down by a drunk driver one morning on his way to work. It happened so quickly that all Haru was aware of was the screech of car tires, the sound of metal being crunched and of glass breaking before he heard a voice saying, ‘Follow the light' Realising his own weightlessness, he did as the voice said. As Haru left the world of the living, he did so with the regret of hurting Makoto more than Rin had hurt him but he hopes that Makoto will move on and that he will find somebody worthy of his love who would stay with him no matter what.


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which three backgrounds and one death is revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I'm so sorry for the delayed chapter because of assignments, writer's block, life etc. etc. The good news is that the blocks caused me to go back and forth between the other two chapters so that the story would be more cohesive and understandable so I suggest re-reading those chapters if you've read this story before. Thanks for the all the kudos, comments and support until now :)
> 
> Without further ado, the long awaited third (and final) chapter!

Tachibana Makoto was once a ‘bride’ but never really a ‘wife’ (He received both compliments and snarky remarks from the wedding guests to the hotel staff at the hotel they were staying at for their honeymoon as the bride even though he is obviously a **man** ) He could still recall his wedding day as though it happened yesterday. It was a small one but it felt extremely significant to him as the marriage not only marked the union of two families and the beginning of the partnership between both their companies but also the fact that Makoto got to marry the man he wanted to spend his forever with since the day they first met.  His husband, Yamazaki Sousuke, was rumoured to be looking for a well-off partner to be his husband due to his parents catching him with a male host in his bed, others claiming it was an old schoolmate but whatever the reason was, Makoto would cherish his husband and wait patiently for not only the day they would make love but also for his husband to share all his thoughts and reasoning.

 

However, during their marriage, Makoto discovered many hidden things about his husband that he never knew before. For example, the higher percentage of females in high positions compared to men in Sousuke’s company, that Sousuke had two secretaries and that one of the was a heavily pregnant red-haired woman who seemed to have quite the sweet spot for Sousuke, which Makoto ignored since Sousuke was one of those men emitted charisma unconsciously and thus unknowingly attracted the attention of both males and females alike, making people of all backgrounds trip over themselves just to get a longer glimpse of him and bend over back to meet all his requests and demands with the hope of being remembered by him one day. In fact, Makoto pitied the woman’s boyfriend? partner? (She is pregnant, but she has no ring and Japan is still not _that_ accepting of same-sex couples) for having to compete with Sousuke whether they knew it or not. Because of both Sousuke’s charisma and high percentage of female workers he made contact with on a daily business, Makoto ignored the warning bells in his head when he first smelled women’s perfume on Sousuke’s clothes, especially around his collar, when Makoto leaned in to give Sousuke his normal welcome home kiss. Nevertheless, as time passed, the warning bells slowly started ringing louder as Makoto picked out a scent that was not only constantly on Sousuke’s clothes but also stronger than the others.

 

Afraid that he was slowly losing his husband who he was starting to suspect being bi, Makoto started chasing the man he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with. He started spending more time with him, sending him packed lunches with encouraging messages and relaxing massages at night. Nevertheless, none of these efforts seemed to make Sousuke more endearing towards Makoto.  So, one day, Makoto decided to surprise Sousuke by making an unannounced lunch visit, knowing that his husband was very likely to work through it as that particular day of the week was always his busiest. However, Makoto was shocked to find the door locked and unattended by both secretaries. So Makoto did what anyone on the other side of a locked door would do - nicely ask the other person on the side to open the door. What Makoto did not expect to hear after Sousuke shouted for him to wait though, was the loud sound of papers rustling that could be heard through his husband’s considerably thick office walls, soon followed by a muffled sound, which sounded suspiciously like the door to the private bathroom adjoining to his office. Yet, before Makoto could ponder on the connectivity of those out-of-sequence sounds, Sousuke opened the door for him, looking unusually dishevelled. This never-seen-before sight of his husband plus the chaste kiss that was placed on his cheek left Makoto unable to form a coherent thought let alone question his husband regarding his looks if he was just in the bathroom before he opened the door for Makoto. Of course, remember he did when he was left alone in their room that night despite the extra attention he received during lunch. Makoto swore he would stop Sousuke next time and hold on to him to get the truth. Hence, since that day, Makoto started his plan to catch his husband in the act of cheating (anyway, confrontation is _really_ not a strong point of his so he is going to need all the preparation he could get).

 

To ensure that Sousuke suspected nothing, Makoto continued to shower his husband with the same amount of affection with the slight change of no longer dropping by without any prior notice. After a month and half of this, Makoto lied about attending a 2-week conference when he was actually going for a weeklong one and taking half of it off for vacationing purposes (Makoto was always a bad liar so he had to make it as partially true as possible to lie smoothly). It helped to know that Sousuke would not check his schedule with his secretary by making a sudden call to Makoto’s office (Makoto also does not know if he should be flattered that his husband trusts him that much or disappointed that he does not care enough to even check if Makoto is lying). When Makoto told Sousuke about the trip, he noticed the minute change in his husband's body language which divulged his relief and joy which (of course) strongly contrasted with his outward countenance of sadness and loneliness. He could even hear the faint notes of giddiness in Sousuke’s “I'll miss you.” (All these hints Makoto picked up finally made him realize how deep his obsession with Sousuke went since Makoto could notice all this **and** that Sousuke was trying his best _not_ to show the slightest bit of elation without even trying). With this new realization regarding the depth of his observations, Makoto decided to test its strength with friends which he at lost contact with after his wedding that would be attending the same conference. The results shocked Makoto as he surprised not just himself but his old friends with his newly-found mind-reading skills. At first, the skill did make a few of them feel creeped out but when they discovered the added attention this skill pulled to Makoto on top of his good looks and personality, they used it to make him the ultimate wingman. That week, Makoto got the biggest self-confidence boost ever in his life as it had been a long time since he felt this sense of dependability. When the skill first worked, Makoto thought it was because he was using it on old friends that had not changed much since his wedding. However, when it yielded high-accuracy results among strangers, Makoto put it down to dealing with all kinds of people on a daily basis for his job. Yet, even he could not deny the enjoyment he received, being the centre of attention after years of unreceived acknowledgement and unfulfilled desires throughout his marriage and work. That last half-week strengthened Makoto’s resolve to confront Sousuke to get the truth about his loyalty, regardless of actually catching him in the act of cheating or not. Nevertheless, Makoto still felt a little cheated of the opportunity to confront Sousuke on his own terms when he came home to find Sousuke in bed with his redheaded secretary and everything could be settled with him straightforwardly stating, “I’m leaving” right then and there.

 

On a morning two weeks after they split, two weeks of Sousuke asking for a chance to explain, two weeks of Makoto ignoring him and staying in a hotel on the odd nights he decided not to worry his co-workers by spending the night in his office, Makoto accidentally bulldozed a man down because he had overslept that morning and was about to be late for the daily morning meeting at his office. Unknown to him at that very moment he looked into those mesmerising deep blue eyes, this gorgeous raven-haired man would not only help him get over his separated husband but was also the unexpected bearer of the news that Sousuke was staying with his secretary and supporting his twin illegitimate children.

 

xxAPSoFxx

 

Matsuoka Rin never intended to fall in love a married man but fall for one she did. She couldn’t decide which was worst though; the fact that said man is her boss or that he was gay. However, Rin would not be _Matsuoka Rin_ without a significant amount of confidence that she could turn any man straight (or, at least, straight for _her_ ). Hence, she tried her best to capture the heart of a taken man that she could only have when his husband was not around (which was surprisingly often).

 

She first started making her moves by being a step ahead regarding Sousuke’s schedule and needs, staying back to work with Sousuke on those nights he worked late, remembering his coffee order and getting it in front of him every morning. She would have also put Makoto down in front of Sousuke to help her get closer to Sousuke if she could but that gentle-hearted giant’s personality never gave her any chances. She really thought she would have to give Sousuke up after discovering how perfect Makoto is, at least until Sousuke himself started pursuing her himself.

 

Sousuke made her feel special, even said that she was the only one he felt comfortable with to tell the full truth of what actually happened between him and the man when his family caught them together. According to Sousuke, the host he was caught with by his parents was an old childhood friend but those were the only facts the rumours got right. All they were doing was catching up on his bed like the used to when suddenly his fried tackled his unto his back and starting making out with him. His parents, who were over-seeing the preparation of the room next door for a visiting VIP, caught them before Sousuke could push his pink-haired friend off him. Believing him completely, Rin gave all her devotion to him. So hopelessly in love was she that she believed him when he promised to divorce Makoto and that he was working on getting his parents to accept her into the family. Obviously, there were the usual naysayers but Rin stood firm on her love’s words and promises and was not swayed even by the most reasonable arguments.

 

Of course, spending so much time with Sousuke meant that she had less time for her own friends. Slowly but surely, Rin started hanging out at clubs and friendly get-togethers less and less. First, she declined by stating the her new job was very demanding and left her too tired to be the party animal she once was but when questions about her absent lover arose frequently the few times she forced herself to spend time with old friends, Rin felt less inclined to give them excuses and outright ignored most invitations to avoid wasting energy defending herself and Sousuke. Soon, the only person she made time for was Haru and that was because his new job left him unavailable to everybody else (only Haru would work the graveyard shift at a bakery to avoid socializing) – if making him run around, ensuring that she got home safely whenever Sousuke couldn’t counted as spending time with him.

 

Now, looking back, Rin realised that their love was destined to hurt others as society condemns her not only for breaking up the Golden Couple in the business world but for also for breaking the heart of the angelic Makoto. However, Rin never gave a shit about what others said about them and she wasn’t about to start now even if it meant forever living her life as though she were Sousuke’s mistress and not the only lover in his life.

 

xxAPSoFxx

 

Yamazaki Sousuke was once a player and this is his karma. Since he was young, he moved in a fast world, full of expectations and grown-up talk and because he learned quickly, he constantly challenged himself in all areas of life to keep life interesting as being the perfect Yamazaki heir was like wearing a second skin to him. He was constantly the top of his class, shone in his club activities and was perfect image of a top cooperation’s heir yet no approval or compliment did his parents give him.

 

It was when he entered college though that he realized his pull to both genders and, egged on by his ‘friends’, he embarked on a new challenge: stealing as many hearts as possible without caring if that person was a guy or girl, single or taken with the objective to sleep with them. Unlike most jackasses though, Sousuke never completely ignored his past conquests and was always friendly towards them in case he needed another favour from them in the future. Hence, with his popularity, charisma and additional power that accompany the Yamazaki name, Sousuke was basically untouchable from a social point of view and just having him greet you was like having royalty acknowledge your presence. With this knowledge and the treatment he received, Sousuke was lost in his delusions of grandeur and no longer went out of his way to seek for his parents approval (not to mention that his group of friends were more interested in him when he did things that could ruin his reputation as the Yamazaki heir yet they all slipped under his parents’ radar). This was how Sousuke viewed the world, at least until an angel changed his point of view.

 

The first time Sousuke noticed Tachibana Makoto was at a birthday party of a mutual friend. Sousuke had seen him around before, what with their families being in the same social circles but that night was the first time Makoto’s looks actually caught Sousuke’s eye and his interest grew the more he got to know the rare angelic creature in front of him. As they spent more time together, Sousuke vowed that he would be the perfect gentleman since Makoto was wary of his playboy ways. Hence, Sousuke set an extremely elaborate plan into motion. He got his old fuckbuddy, Kisumi, to visit him. Poor, innocent Kisumi thought it was a normal booty call, which meant that Sousuke had ensured that parents were not around for the day and so Kisumi was his normal, overeager self as soon as he got Sousuke alone in the latter’s bedroom. How was he to know that Sousuke had planned all this and that Sousuke’s usually absent parents would have been within hearing distance of their activities? To Sousuke, this plan was the fastest ways to shut down any disbelief and arguments his parents may come up with and further delay his union with Makoto’s flesh. Thus, he endured his parent’s harsh words and when they had finally calmed down somewhat, Sousuke appeased them by saying that he was not against adopting his future husband’s siblings/cousins and later training them as heirs to the Yamazaki fortune - his parents having deemed none of their relatives suitable enough to handle the family business long ago. After a couple months of contemplation, his parents settled on the Tachibana family based on the general consensus that they are a well-respected, down-to-earth family with the extra bonus of having a very young pair of fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, perfect foundation for a surrogate heir if Sousuke and his husband decide to go down that road (with the girl’s consent, of course) and in case the boy turns out to be an unfit heir. With his parents giving their ‘ok’, Sousuke immediately went to choose an engagement ring, announced his interest to be Makoto’s suitor to the Tachibanas, proposed to Makoto and did all he could to rush his big wedding to finally be able to fulfil all his lustful fantasies.

 

However, unions between Demons and Angels are labelled forbidden for a reason. Oh yes, the honeymoon stage was very sweet and enjoyable and Sousuke was proud of himself for being successful in binding an angel to himself. Yet, as time passed, Sousuke realised that living with an angel just magnified his own dark nature, which made him jealous of/unwilling to taint his extremely pure husband. Thus, Sousuke fell in and out of love with is husband as he tried various ways to ‘redeem’ himself. Sensing the odd love-hate relationship between them, Makoto tried harder to be sweeter towards his husband, unknowingly widening the distance between him and the man that trapped him in this marriage and driving him into the arms of another person.

 

Matsuoka Rin caught Sousuke’s eye with her charisma and charm. Her passion lit a fire so strong in him that he was convinced that he never felt this way with another person before. Of course, he tried to resist the pull but his insecurities regarding his marriage and his need to fulfil all his desires no matter how base they were drew him to her like a moth to a flame. Life must really have something against him for Matsuoka got pregnant from their first time – with twins, no less. As though that was not enough, his arrogance in assuming that everyone wanted to please him and would never lie to him made him lose his angel who decided to come home early and ended up catching him and Matsuoka in bed together.

 

Although Sousuke felt bad and wanted Makoto back, it wasn’t until he stalked Makoto one night, saw how miserable he was, all alone, without seeking comfort from anyone - heck, Makoto even went as far as telling everyone who asked about his well-being that he was fine (even though he obviously _wasn’t_ ) - that drove Sousuke to a nearby pub. For nights upon nights, all Sousuke could do was look for solutions to his sorrows and guilt at the bottom of glasses.  One particular night of heavy drinking went on way longer than it should’ve yet Sousuke still chose to drive himself to work despite not only over drinking but also lethargic due to lack of sleep. He really shouldn’t have driven because karma decided to be a bitch that early morning and Sousuke ended up running over somebody and had the accident caught on tape. Sousuke later found out while he was in holding that he had ran over one of Matsuoka’s closest friends from before she focused all her energy on pursuing him. Yet, what he regretted the most when he received that news was that twice Makoto lost the one he loves because of Sousuke’s poor judgment and consequential actions.

 

Those that go searching for love, only manifest their loveless-ness

And the loveless never find love, only the loving find love

And they never have to search for it. - D.H. Lawrence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'd like to thank those people who took the time to read, kudos, bookmark, comment and patiently waited for me to finish my first fic. Your clicks and words helped encourage me to continuously try to overcome my block and create a fic that I felt confident enough to post. There is a Part 4 of the game but for my sake, I'm leaving it at 3 parts for now (maybe forever, I'm not sure. We'll have to see what the future has in store for me ;)).
> 
> On another note, I have another Free! fic in the works but I think I'll wait until I've written more than just the first few chapters before I start posting it so that updates would (hopefully) be closer to each other. This fic will be a series in the A/B/O AU.
> 
> Follow me at @briarose94 on tumblr where I would like to chat with all you beautiful sons of guns. Until next time, ja ne <3


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